


A Deal

by Angelsunflowersfanfics



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: But not by Jack, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21844024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelsunflowersfanfics/pseuds/Angelsunflowersfanfics
Summary: After Handsome Jack strikes up a deal, that in exchange for you, he'll leave Pandora alone, you take it. But what consequences will come from it?
Relationships: Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**“(y/n), get behind me.”** Lilith steps beside me as Handsome Jack himself steps out of the huge spaceship.

 **“What’s going on?”** He’s smirking as always, why is he here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in the flesh. He’s tall.

 **“What the hell are you doing here, Jack?”** My breathing is shaky as I play with the pistol in my hands. He looks more intimidating than the others described. My shoulders jolt up slightly as he specifically locks eyes with me. Lilith clears her throat, bringing Jack’s attention back to her.

 **“Well, I was going to set this hellhole ablaze, but…I’ve changed my mind. I’m willing to make a deal with you vault hunters. Give me your newbie and in exchange, I’ll leave you alone.”** I know he’s talking about me. Mordecai grabs one of my hands and pushes me behind him, blocking Jack’s view of me. What’s going on?

 **“No way, Jack! Not happening!”** If I go with him…Then Pandora will be left alone. Mordecai, Lilith, Brick, the rest of Sanctuary will be left alone.

 **“Wh-Wait! Just hang on, guys.”** Mordecai, along with Lilith and Brick turns around to face me.

 **“You can’t possibly be serious. That’s Handsome Jack, he could kill you.”** I turn away from everyone after hearing Mordecai’s words. I could be killed, but if there’s even a slim chance that Pandora will be left alone, I’ll take it.

 **“I have to. I need you all to be safe.”** I turn to Lilith and grab her upper arms in a tight grip. **“Promise me you’ll check up on Tina. Nothing can happen to her.”** The siren gives me a small nod before I step back. I feel shivers run down my spine as an unfamiliar arm wraps around my shoulders.

 **“So the decisions made? You’re coming home with me?”** Lilith glares at Jack, her arms cross her arms over her chest.

 **“It seems that way. Contact me as soon as you set foot on that space station.”** I give Lilith a small nod before following Jack into his aircraft. I glance back once more to look at the rest of the vault hunters before the doors close. Jack grabs one of my hands and guides me to one of the seats before strapping me in.

 **“Sir, I can strap myself in.”** I see Jack smirking, which isn’t unusual for him in any case, before he handcuffs my wrists to the straps; limiting my movements. I stare up at him for an explanation.

 **“Can’t have you trying to escape, can I?”** I glance down at the handcuffs before seeing how much wiggle room I have.

 **“I suppose that’s the most logistical option.”** My straps are a bit tight, but I don’t think I should say anything. Handsome Jack’s fingers slip underneath the straps to tug on it a bit, testing out how tight is against my chest I suppose.

 **“Damn, that’s a bit too tight, Even for my liking.”** I hear him mutter to himself before loosening the straps so I could breathe A little easier. Once he feels content with my straps and handcuffs, he sits in his own seat before the ship takes flight.

 **“Thank you….”** Would he really try to kill everyone on Pandora if I hadn’t agreed to go with him?

 **“Answer me something, would you?”** I turn my attention towards him, what could he possibly want to know? **“Why’d you join the crimson raiders, become a vault hunter?”** He thinks I’m a vault hunter?

 **“I’m not a vault hunter, and it was either join the crimson raiders or become a bandit…. Why do you ask? Surely, you have all the materials you need to find any information you could want?”** Jack looks like he’s thinking, he places one of his hands behind his neck.

 **“Honestly, I’ve never seen or heard of you before. I don’t know if you’re even in the database.”** He hops up once the ship lands on Helios. I did move from Elpis to Pandora recently-ish. Jack takes his time in unstrapping me from the seat, seems to keep his hands on me as much as possible. **“If I uncuff you, are you going to run off?”** I stand to my feet and watch as he releases the cuffs from my wrists.

 **“I don’t plan on it. I’ll stay here as long as you leave Pandora and the people on it alone.”** I shrink back into my seat as he stares at me for a moment, a long, dreadful moment. He lightly shrugs his shoulders and starts to make his way out the door.

 **“Alright, follow me.”** I quickly follow his lead, stepping a few paces behind him as he takes care of the security guards. They kinda feel familiar somehow-

 **“What a minute, you were on Elpis, right?”** I stop walking, as does Jack, as one of the guards calls me out.

 **“Um, yes. When Zarpodon took over Helios, right?”** I see Jack giving me a puzzled look.

 **“I’m sure you don’t know or remember me because of this armor, but you saved my life. Thank you.”** I give him a small nod before gesturing to the gun in his hands.

 **“Do you think I could see that for a second?”** I feel Jack step closer to me as the gun is handed to me. **“Man, Hyperion really does make the best guns,”** I whisper to myself before handing the gun back to the guard. Maybe this place won’t be so bad. I turn on my heels and head inside the space station as Jack pulls me along.

 **“You’re certainly different, aren’t you?”** I wonder if he remembers seeing me at all? **“So you were there when Zarpoden tried to blow up the moon?”**

 **“Yeah, i’m the one that gave you your tattoos.”** Jack halts in moving, staring at me in confusion.

 **“As in plural? I only have one, and it’s on my wrist.”** I softly shake my head, not wanting to anger him.

 **“You have one on your back, it was the only place I could fit something so big….I thought you knew, I thought that’s why you chose to take me instead of destroying Pandora.”** Jack continues to walk in order to hide his blush. The only reason I know he’s blushing is because of his ears.

**“Sure, let’s go with that….Um, I’m going to give you the tour, since you’ll be here from now on.”**

I let Jack ramble about the history of Hyperion and how he got into power. He sure does like to hear himself talk. Hyperion is so clean, I’m not used to it. I let my gaze wander to the windows as we enter a hallway made entirely of glass windows. I wonder if that’s safe? I stop walking and slowly approach one of the glass windows to stare out into the sea of stars. I never got much of a chance to stop and look at the stars on Pandora or even Elpis. I sit on the ground and rest my head on the wall and turn my body to face the stars as I feel myself getting drowsy. I don’t even remember the last time I slept. I jolt awake as I feel two large hands grab my waist.

 **“Pumpkin, hey…. You disappeared on me, what happened? I almost called the entire space station to go find you.”** I peek at the stars for a moment before staring into his heterochromia eyes.

 **“The stars distracted me, sorry. You just don’t really think about the stars when you’re forced to shoot almost everything on Pandora and Elpis.”** Jack blankly stares at me before he pulls me to my feet. I’m so sleepy now.

 **“Come on, I’ll show you where you’re staying.”** I rub my eyes once he releases his iron-like grip on me. I catch his eyes on me as we walk down the corridor and into his office. **“And I’ll let you get situated.”** I watch as one of his hands grabs one of mine, his hands are rough, but his grip is soft. Jack surprisingly doesn’t say anything else as he leads me into his office and swerves into a side room. The room itself is enormous, the bed looks like it could fit brick twice over. I step away from him, separating his hold on me.

 **“Is someone else going to be in here with me? This place is huge…”** He laughs at my expression, his shoulders bouncing up and down.

 **“Nope, it’s all yours. The bathroom is in the back if you wanna freshen up. There should be some Hyperion clothes in the dresser, but if you want to stay in your pandoran clothes, that’s fine. I can respect that.”** Jack stands at the door as I glance around the room, admiring all there is to see. I wanna ask why He has a room all set up IN his office, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. **“I’ll, um, I’ll leave you to get situated. I’ll be at my desk if you need me, Cupcake.”** I watch for a few moments as Jack leaves the room, letting the automatic door shut close. My pace quickens as I approach the wide window that has a perfect view of the stars. I want to continue to watch the stars slowly move, I could watch this for hours, days even. But I should take a bath, I haven’t had a bath since I was a child. It’s been so long since I’ve even thought about a bath. I can send an echo to Lilith later.

* * *

I slowly step out in a yellow hyperion-branded towel and step to the dresser and grab a hyperion sweater along with some shorts. They actually look really comfy. I slip on the items of clothing before slowly stepping out of the room. Jack’s working, should I bother him? My steps are slow paced as I walk up to his desk.

 **“Don’t be shy, Cupcake. Need something?”** Jack pushes the holographic screens away to see my face clearly. I fiddle with the end of the sweater, feeling self conscious.

 **“I need to send an echo to Lilith, I was supposed to once I got here, but I couldn’t resist taking a bath.”** I watch him carefully as he hands me a blank echo. I take a step away from the desk before Jack says something.

 **“I see you’re getting comfortable.”** I pause in walking back to the room I was given earlier before stepping towards his desk. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, I’m feeling so nervous all of a sudden.

 **“Um, yeah…It’s just been so long since my safety’s been guaranteed.”** My eyes widen slightly as he stands up, he’s so tall.

 **“So, not today of course, but when you’re all situated, I was thinking of looking into a job for you, since I’m pretty sure you don’t want to just stare at the stars all day.”** I open my mouth to answer, but my gaze instantly runs past his face and to the wide window overlooking Elpis.

 **“That’s debatable. I could stare at the stars for ages… Your view is so lovely, but you always seem to be working, how do you get used to it?”** My hands instantly set down the blank echo recorder before I walk up to the window behind his desk. I tense up slightly as I feel his body pressed against mine.

 **“I have other things to worry about, I suppose. Though, I don’t have to worry about Pandora anymore.”** I stare at Elpis, I wonder if Pickle is still there… **“You’ve been on Elpis, right? How’d you end up on Pandora?”** His arms slowly reach around my body to wrap firmly on my waist. I don’t understand how he’s being so casual and comfortable with me.

**“I was born on Elpis, I didn’t even leave until about a year ago. Springs thought I might like Pandora better and everyone else was leaving… Why are you being so casual? I’ve seen you in person before and… You’re different.”**

Jack slowly forces me to face him, pressing my back against the glass.

 **“You’ve seen things down there, on Pandora, things that you can’t unsee. I can see it in your eyes… But somehow, you’re still innocent to things around here. You remind me that there are still good people out there.”** Jack slowly takes the few steps back to fall into his chair. It’s awkward now…I slowly pick up the blank echo recorder before taking small steps back into my room. I might actually start to like it here if he’s going to be like that, Hyperion won’t be so bad. Maybe…


	2. Chapter 2

**“–Lilith, you wouldn’t believe it! I mean, for a corporation that’s been digging up our planet, it’s beautiful. And the stars are so close I could just reach just a little… Sorry, I’m rambling again. Um, ask about the guys for me? Tell them I say hi and I would love to hear about them. How they’re doing, all that.. Could you-”** The door opens, revealing Jack waiting.

 **“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were… Doing that.”** He’s… Kinda cute when he’s not talking my ears off.

 **“I’ll be just another second. I’ll talk to you later, Lilith.”** I quickly end the audio log before approaching Jack. **“Sorry, that took so long. I just wanted to make sure I said everything I need to right now. I don’t know when the next time I’ll be able to talk to her.”** I glance up to meet his gaze once he ruffles my hair lightly, taking the echo log from my fingers.

 **“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Listen, I got a few jobs for you to do for me.”** I tilt my head to the side in confusion. Jobs? For me? **“I’ve noticed how you kinda drift away when you look at the stars. I thought you might wanna get out of this corner of Helios. Stretch your legs a bit.”** I smile at the thoughtfulness. I have been wanting to explore a bit. See what this place has to offer. Jack leads me to his desk, choosing to sit on top of his desk instead of the comfy chair behind.

 **“Okay, what do you need me to do?”** Jack sets down my echo log on his desk before grabbing a few files of papers, all neatly organized and handing them to me.

 **“I’m gonna need you to go to the archives, it’s in the library. Just hand this in to whoever is in charge and you’ll be fine. Oh! And I got you a pass, so you have clearance pretty much anywhere.”** I step closer to Jack as he slips a pass made into a necklace over my head. I shouldn’t run into any trouble now.

 **“Thanks, Jack. I’m gonna explore for a while… If that’s okay?”** He rolls his shoulders back, giving me a look, laying one of his large hands on top of my head, ruffling my hair once more. I don’t know what to say to him.

 **“Relax, of course you can explore… Just be careful, the people around here aren’t people you should be around.”** I’ve lived on Elpis and Pandora, why does he think I should be careful?

 **“What are the types of people I should be around?”** Jack smirks boldly, placing his hands on his hips.

 **“Me, of course.”** I give him an amused smile before giving him a friendly wave and leaving his quarters. It’ll be nice to spend some time outside of that corner.

* * *

Everything’s so different since the last I saw, it’s been years. The walls are bright yellow, much better than black and red. I don’t know how I feel about all these people though, I just need to find the Library, where is th-

I bump into someone, someone very tall. I creak my neck up to meet his eyes. Heterochromia, just like Jack’s. How odd.

 **“Um, sorry for running into you. I think I’m a little lost. Uh…”** My sentence trails off as my eyes spot his cybernetic arm. **“Is that a cybernetic arm?”** My hand hovers over the arm

 **“Yeah, it’s neat, huh? You can touch it if you want.”** My hand slowly glides over the smooth metallic arm, we don’t have anything like this back home. Sorry, Hammerlock.

 **“I think it’s freaky, I mean you cut off your arm to have this one! Who does that?”** I stare at the taller male, he’s pretty. WAIT. He-

“ **It helps with my data mining skills. You know that, Vaughn.”** I don’t think I know anybody you would do that.

 **“You deliberately cut off your arm to enhance one of your skills for a corporation? Am I hearing this right?”** Vaughn, I think that’s his name, smirks up at his taller friend.

“ **See? I’m not the only one who thinks it’s weird.”** I brush a loose strand of hair behind my ear, I’m getting off task.

 **“It does look amazing, and I can’t imagine all the things you can do with that, but… I’m sorry for rambling. I’m (y/n), it’s very nice to meet you.”** The unnamed Hyperion boy sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, he’s cute. Wow.

 **“I’m Rhys, I work in the data mining department, while Vaughn here is an accountant.”** I wonder if I would have liked an office job instead of scavenging Pandora and Elpis, barely making it by.

 **“Do you think you could tell me where the library is? I got a little sidetracked.”** Rhys gestures towards the opposite side of the large room, I think it’s called The Hub of Heroism? Funny name.

 **“Take that hall and make a right then two lefts, got it?”** I give him a gracious smile before pivoting on my heel and heading towards the hallway that Rhys directed me to. I hear a whisper follow me as I walk.

 **“I wonder what they do here?”** It’s probably better if nobody knows why or how I’m in Helios, at the company of Hyperion. It would only rise questions and turn these people against me, although they probably already question me based off my clothes; a Hyperion sweater, leggings and high tops don’t exactly beam professionalism.


	3. Chapter 3

I turn a right and then two lefts, just as Rhys said before I see the bright red colors of the Library. It’s pretty. But this place is almost deserted. Why isn’t there anybody here? I slowly approach the front desk before clearing my throat.

 **“Excuse me, do you happen to know what I’m supposed to do with these papers? I was told to give them to the Library, well, the archives.”** The person in charge quickly glances up from his computer before lightly grabbing the papers from my hands.

 **“Thank you, we’ve been waiting for these for weeks now.”** I glance around as he goes back to his typing. I guess that’s all I have to do. I guess I’ll explore a bit, or maybe go back to the main hall… Or back to Jack. My little corner is quite cozy.

I slowly stroll back to the main hall, where I met Rhys and Vaughn, they seem nice. I’m not sure If I should tell Ja–A squeak escapes my throat as two large and familiar hands place themselves on me. I slowly and stiffly turn to face Jack, I think I almost had a heart attack.

 **“Jeez, didn’t think I scared you that much. Sorry, Babe. I mean, not that much, but… You’re fine.”** I place a hand over my heart, patting it lightly and letting out a deep breath. I’m okay. **“So how’d it go? I know that you’re plenty capable, but I wanted to check on my favorite person.”** I glance up to him, I really shouldn’t be surprised by his actions.

 **“It went fine. I was just going to… I don’t know.”** I shudder as Jack moves his hands to the nape of my neck, his fingers slowly starting to comb through my hair. What is he doing to me? **“Sir, what are you doing? People are staring.”** He continues his task, brushing my hair with his fingers and staring at the redness in my face and ears.

 **“Just let them. You don’t need to worry about anything else. You got that?”** I give him a satisfying hum, leaning my head into his hands. My eyes are glazed over as Jack abruptly pulls his hands away. **“Oh, my god. You are just so cute! I know it’s only been a few days, and apparently, you know me from before… I know I’m not deserving of someone as special as you. Definitely not. But I want to change.”** Jack lets out a quiet laugh, almost breathless. He grabs one of my hands, keeping a tight grip on me. This is… Nice. Is he serious about changing? I’d like that.

From the corner of my eye I see someone, Jack’s still talking but all I can focus on is that person. What are they doing? My eyes widen as the person quickly draws out a gun, aiming it at Jack. I have to move fast.

I shove jack out of the way, it only knocks him backward a few feet, which is plenty enough for me to take the bullets instead of him. A scream rips from my throat as a bullet lodges itself into me, one in my thigh and the other in my stomach. I fall to the floor, bleeding out at a furious pace.

Jack turns around to the culprit and grabs the pistol on his hip and shoots a single bullet, killing him instantly. The entire room is silent. Jack kneels down to me and puts one hand on one of the bullet wounds, keeping most of the blood inside my body where it belongs, and the other holding his phone up to ear to call for a doctor? I’m not sure, his voice is getting fuzzier, my vision starting to get blurry.

 **“I need a doctor in the Hub of heroism immediately. There’s been a shooting… Do it now, I’m–”** Jack continues to talk, I’m going out of focus. He’s helping me? He was serious. That makes me…

Happy.

My eyes slip closed, I hope everything will be okay. I actually want some kind of life here. I didn’t think something like this would happen so soon. I can see Jack staring at me, my condition. He’s so calm.

* * *

My body feels so heavy, the lights are bothering me. Am I in a hospital? Jeez… Everything hurts. Taking a bullet for someone is a big deal, huh? I slowly open my eyes to see Jack leaning on the hospital bed, a calm look on his face.

 **“Angel wings.”** What is he talking about?

 **“What?”** I slowly sit up with his help.

 **“You tattooed angel wings onto my back because of my daughter… I had a lot of time to think after you passed out with those bullets in you. I saw it in the mirror. I can’t believe it took me this long to see it.”** He’s looking at me. What’s going through his head? I can’t read him very well yet. **“I didn’t know you would take a bullet for me.”** He grabs one of my hands, his grip is soft but his expression is serious. He has a protective aura surrounding him. **“I guess now you have an excuse to just look at the stars all day. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m gonna protect you from now on, okay? You don’t have to worry about a thing ever, it’s a good thing that guy was a shitty shot. You should be out of here in a few days, everything will be alright.”**

I want to be able to do something around here, what if something major happens and I’m not here to witness it or to fight back… be useful.

He’s looking at me with such soft eyes, his grip firm but not threatening. How is Lilith going to react to this? Should I even tell her and the others? What’s going to happen next? What’s going to happen to Pandora?


	4. Chapter 4

The lights are still bright in the room, but dim. I’ve been moved from the hospital room that’s for certain. I slowly sit up, using one of my hands to shield the bright lights on the ceiling from my eyes. I quickly glance at my surroundings; I’m back in my little corner. Everything is still so sore…

Wait, I hear something. Outside.

 **“I know what I said before. Look, I made a deal and I don’t back down on my deals, just blow them up, but be sure that nobody is inside when you do or I’ll get in trouble… Do it.”** What is he blowing up? And what did he mean by trouble?

I slowly maneuver myself to steadily stand up, placing a hand on my stomach as it starts to ache in pain, maybe laying back down will be better. But the light hurts my eyes. Why is it so bright? I wrap the soft blankets around my body to hide the light from my vision.

I hear the door to my room open automatically and feel a presence step in. I know it’s Jack. I think he’s the only one who has access to my room.

 **“Hey, Sweetheart? You up yet?”** I slowly pull the covers off of my head and shield the light from my eyes with one of my hands. The lights are still making me dizzy. **“Are the lights hurting your eyes?”** I can only mumble out an answer but smile lightly as Jack turns the knob by the door, dimming the lights. I slowly sit up, laying back against my pillows. **“How are you feeling?”** He takes a few big steps to sit on the foot of my bed.

 **“Okay, I’m a bit sore and really sleepy but…”** I glance around the room, losing my train of thought and hoping that by looking around, the room might help gain it back. I lock eyes with Jack again who is staring at me nervously, anticipation growing. **“What was I saying?”** Jack smiles lightly, grabbing one of my hands, relief washing over his features like a tidal wave.

 **“You’re going to be fine. It’s just your medication kicking in. You’ll be a bit loopy for a while, but you should be able to walk around in an hour or two. The medication should wear off by then.”** The echo on the bedside table rings lightly, making both of us jump lightly in our spots. I reach a hand over to grab it, to answer the call but Jack swiftly grabs it before I can and answers my call.

 **“(y/n)’s echo, Handsome Jack Speaking.”** I glance up to see him standing far out of my reach, talking to someone.

 **“Jack, I swear, if you hurt (y/n)–”** Jack rolls his eyes and quickly interrupts Lilith’s sentence. I’m happy that she decided to call.

 **“Relax, They’re fine. I mean, there was a bit of an event a few days ago but they’re good.”** I lean up onto my knees and snatch the echo from his hands to speak to Lilith.

 **“Hi, Lil. Is everything okay? We just talked not too long ago.”** I can hear Lilith let out a sigh of relief at the sound of my voice. She takes a moment before explaining why she called.

 **“Well I wanted to talk about the eridium mines but what event is he talking about?”** I laugh nervously, knowing how protective the Vault hunters can be. Particularly after all that has happened over the past couple of years.

 **“Well, I took a bullet for Jack… Literally.”** I can feel how shocked she is just through the echo, Lilith takes a few deep breaths, trying to process what I said.

 **“Actually it was two bullets, you’re very lucky that they didn’t hit any arteries.”** I stare at him with wide eyes, giving him a look that bluntly says _‘Why would you say that?’_

 **“Jesus, why would you take a bullet for a guy like that at all?”** I sit back for a minute, running over the scene in my head again and again. I don’t know if it was just a spur of the moment decision or if I’ve actually gained some sort of feelings for him. It’s difficult to know.

 **“I… I don’t know. I just saw some random pull out a gun and aim at Jack and I just acted. It’s all still a blur.”** Right, what did she want to talk about? And what was Jack doing in his office earlier?

 **“Okay… The eridium mines, They’re gone. There were some explosions earlier and poof! All gone. There isn’t a single drill digging into Pandora anymore… Was that his doing?”** I stare up at Jack who hasn’t said a word and has instead busied himself with thumbing through his phone, leaning against the door. **“I just wanted to check on you and tell you what’s happening. Get better and stay in touch, okay?”** I smile lightly before answering my longtime friend.

 **“Always.”** The echo goes silent, light sparks of static popping out in between the pauses before we both end the call. I slowly and steadily stand up to my feet, I want to walk around a bit today. I think I’m feeling up to it.

 **“Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, stop. You shouldn’t get out of bed just yet.”** I brush past him lightly, If I don’t walk around I’m going to get bored real quick.

 **“I feel fine. I want to walk around, stretch my legs, say hi to a few people. All that jazz.”** I open the drawer of Hyperion clothes laid out for me. He’s still here. **“You mind?”** Jack pockets his phone away before crossing his arms, a wide smirk spread across his stupid face.

 **“No, you can continue.”** I glare lightly at him, it’s nice that we’re both becoming more and more comfortable with each other but… Not to this extent just yet. It hasn’t even been a week yet. **“Kidding! Just Kidding, Sweetheart. I know when to take a hint. I’ll be right outside. If you are going out again, I have a few things I need to get done around Helios.”** Jack quickly slips out of my room to let me change in peace.

I change into the classic Helios sweatshirt with matching leggings and my signature high tops, once I feel happy with my outfit, I clip my echo to my side before I walk out the door, grabbing the pass that Jack gave me before I slip out the door. I almost bump into Jack, why is he standing right outside my door? That’s odd.

 **“What do you need me to do that your assistant can’t?”** Jack glances around his office for a moment, stalling.

 **“Well, He’s actually busy with a few things on Pandora, finalizing stuff. You’re good with robots, right?”** I actually am, it’s been a while though. The only robot work that I actually did was fixing Claptrap from time to time and helping modify the mechanical arms of a few people. Along with some reinforcements but…

 **“Yeah, but it’s been a while since I’ve worked with a robot with an AI, it’s mainly weaponized robots. Which is not my favorite.”** Jack beckons for me to follow with the wave of his hand, I do so. He leads me to the center of Helios, a glitching Loader bot in front of me. This shouldn’t be too hard.

I approach the Loader bot’s back and open up a panel, the wires are all crossed and not matching. It’s a miracle that his loader bot worked at all. I quickly reattach the wires to their correct locations and close the panel. Why were the wires like that in the first place?

 **“Easy, who did that to the loader bot? Any longer and it would have malfunctioned completely or exploded.”** He actually looks impressed. That’s good. It feels good to get up and walk around a bit. I’ve been stuck in the hospital and that weird corner Jack likes to keep me in. When I came up here, I didn’t think Jack would keep me as a pet? No, a partner? Nevertheless, I thought he would’ve killed me off and destroyed Pandora.

I guess things are different from another perspective.

I jump out of my thoughts as Jack places a tender touch on my shoulder. From what I’ve seen and heard, he’s anything but tender. Didn’t he strangle someone for bringing up his wife? And hire one of the vault hunters to ‘save’ his grandmother after he hired actual bandits to murder her?

What am I supposed to make up of this man?

 **“Did you hear anything I just said?”** He was talking? I must be really out of it still. Jeez, that incident really took a lot out of me. I give him a small nod, breathing out a small sigh and glancing around the large room. It smells like coffee. I haven’t smelled that in forever.

 **“No, sorry. I’m just thinking too hard. What were you saying?”** He huffs lightly, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at me. His eyes are piercing, he’s so close to me. What does he want me to say?

 **“I was actually telling you how pretty you look in Hyperion colors… Are you alright, Honey? Maybe you should stay in your room for anoth–”** I feel a rush of anger and desperation rush through my veins. I don’t want to stay hold up in that room for another day. Do I absolutely love that room? Yes, I love it. But staying in there all the time with Jack just a room away is a bit alarming, to say the least.

 **“No! I-I don’t want to stay locked in the room all day.”** I turn around in embarrassment, facing the direction of the large open room, people are bustling to get coffee before heading back to their offices. Is he going to hurt me now? Because I said no? I flinch lightly when he tries to place a hand on one of my shoulders. I take a step away from him, not being able to predict what he might say or do next.

 **“Okay, there are multiple jobs posted all around Hyperion. Not many people really do those anymore but have a crack at it, I guess.”** I cross my own arms over my chest and start to walk away from him. wanting to feel useful and actually do something. **“Be careful.”** I don’t answer him and finally, leave his presence. I take a few breathers, wanting the tenseness in my shoulders to disappear from the confrontation. I don’t know why I exploded like that. I’m usually not that temperamental.

Let’s try to focus on a job. There’s a job board over there. I guess we’ll start there.

I slowly press my hand to the board to activate it and jump back in surprise as hundreds of jobs pop up on the screen in front of me. Wow… there’s so many. I guess I should start with something I know well.

I press onto the most recent one that was uploaded about 20 minutes ago. It looks simple enough, just delivering papers from one side of Helios to the other, shouldn’t take too long. I grab the papers that pop out from the job board and start to make my way to the department it entails in the notes.

I’ll let myself relax by doing a few jobs before going back to Jack to apologize. I shouldn’t have exploded like that. I don’t know what got into me.


	5. Chapter 5

Helios is lovely though, the people seem kind of snobby but not everyone. That's nice. As I enter into the department as instructed, I feel almost at ease as the loud sounds of the hub of heroism face away. 

I walk up to one of the many desks and hold the papers up for them to see. He looks busy but I don’t know where to go now. The instructions weren’t too clear. 

**“Uh, sorry to bother you but I have these papers that I was instructed to bring here…”** I trail off the rest of my sentence but he quickly looks up, his eyes brightening at the sight of the papers. He quickly takes it from my light grasp before setting them aside. 

**“I guess you took the task from the job board? I didn’t expect anybody to actually do that. Nobody does those anymore… the email and fax system has been down so we’ve had to go old school.”** He turns to another side of his desk for a moment before presenting a ---wow--- cinnamon roll. I haven’t seen one of those in forever. **“I don’t really have any money, but--”** I wave my hands in the air to brush off his excuse before gently taking the cinnamon roll from his hands. 

**“It’s no trouble. I’m just kinda going through the job boards out of boredom mainly.”** I wave goodbye before heading back to the job board to continue with a few other simple tasks. The people don’t expect much from me, which is good but I need to watch my back. Not everyone will be as friendly as that last one. 

I slowly take a bite of the cinnamon roll and practically melt. How in the world it is so good? I haven’t had the luxury of eating one of these in years. Probably since I was a kid. God… maybe that’s one good thing to come out of being here. 

A few jobs later and a full stomach from all of the treats, I head to the job board one last time, for one more job before I decide to find Jack to talk to him about what happened this morning. As my hand reaches out for a job about fixing a gun, my phone rings. I drop my hand to my echo and answer the call. 

**“I’m sorry.”** It’s jack. Of course. **“I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard. You’re not fragile but after what happened, I was worried that something else would happen to you.”** I let out a small sigh and continue with the task in front of me, grabbing the broken gun and starting to work on it. **“You don’t have to answer, I know that I'm shit at apologies but I just thought that you would be less intimidated If I called you.”** I clear my throat lightly and fix the scope on the sniper before holding it lightly in my arms and starting to head towards the department where they build the guns. 

**“It’s okay, I understand why you said those things. I have to do something but afterward, I’ll talk to you, okay?”** My voice is soft, almost shaky. I hear him take a deep breath before slowly letting it out, trying to calm himself maybe? I wait until he answers, it’s not wise to hang up on him even if I'm angry with him. 

**“Alright, sweetheart. Take your time.”** I give a small nod to myself before hanging up almost hesitantly. Okay, just have to hand-deliver the gun and then talk to Jack. No biggie. 

The department is dark and gloomy almost like Something terrible is about to happen. Okay, in then out. Easy enough. This place is giving me the creeps. 

My steps are slow and steady as I reach the entrance, Why is this place creeping me out so much? I don't understand. 

As if to answer all of my internal questions, the head of the department pops out from the shadows. Creepy. I’m already getting bad vibes from him and he hasn’t even said a word quite yet. I shift uneasily, I want to leave so bad. I actually want to head back to Jack as quickly as possible. 

**“So you’re the cutie that’s been doing the tasks from the job board. I was wondering what you looked like.”** I feel a gross shiver crawl down my spine. Okay, I need to get out of here NOW. just hand him the gun and run. Easy. I narrow my eyes at the rather large man in front of me before shoving the gun into his sausage fingers. Now to leave. But before I can make a movement to move away, he grabs one of my forearms. **“Where do you think you’re going?”** I feel my toes curl uncomfortably in my shoes as he gets closer and closer to me. 

Why can't I move? I'm frozen. 

It only takes a split second for him to slam me against the wall, my backside facing him. Fuck, I can feel my heart racing so quickly and my hands are shaking. What do I do? I can’t just push him off, I’m still not 100% after the shooting from a few days ago. 

**“I can’t have you just running off and getting me fired… Besides, I need to give you some sort of** ** _payment_** **, right?”** My eyesight is shaky and my strength feels out of my control but I need to do something. There's no way he can have his way with me. I have a knife strapped to my thigh. If I can reach it I'll be okay. My heart lunges into my throat as his hands quickly make their way to the top of my jeans, going to slip them down. I shuffle and fight my way to face him, glaring deep into his soulless eyes. **“Oh, you want to face me.”** I can’t move my arms, his fingernails are digging into my wrists too tightly.

With one quick action, without my consent, he rips my shirt open; revealing my chest to the air. I need to act quickly while he’s busy ogling me like a pig. I wrangle a hand out of his grip to grab my knife and dig it into his shoulder. He screams in pain and releases me, finally. I kick him down before bringing my knife down on him again, a trail of blood springs onto me but I don’t take much notice before repeating my action again.

And Again

AGAIN

AGAIN

AGA--

I jump as a hand reaches my shoulder, I turn quickly and raise my knife quickly, preparing to fight. But it’s Jack. It’s just Jack. 

His eyes are glancing everywhere, to the body underneath me, to the blood splattered all over my clothes. I feel tears blinding my vision as he slowly takes the knife from me and takes me into his arms. 

**“He-he tried to-”** Jack only shushes me, one hand cradling the back of my neck while the other slowly picks my body up from the corpse. I grab fistfuls of his outfit, needing to stay as close to him as possible.

**"Let's get back to my place. I'll clean you up."** I can feel myself shaking like crazy. It won't stop. My vision is blocked by tears but I can hear Jack tell somebody to clean up the body while he escorts me to his office.

I vaguely feel Jack set me on the ground in front of my bathtub in my room before slowly starting to fill up the tub with warm water.

**"Alright, Princess. I'm going to need you to undress and get in the tub. Can you do that?"** I slowly nod and watch as he turns around to face the wall. With shaky movements, I remove all of my clothing before sinking into the tub, holding my knees up to my chest. 

I, never in a thousand years, imagined something like that would happen to me, not here. On Pandora, maybe. But Helios? I thought I’d be safe, somewhat safe anyway. I jump slightly as I feel Jack thread his fingers through my hair. I feel somewhat safe with him around, the way he was looking at me… Like I was gonna break.

Maybe I am gonna break. 

**“At least you didn’t get blood in your hair, it’s a bitch to wash off. Trust me.”** I want to laugh but my mind keeps going back to what almost happened. My breathing comes out as shaky and weak. 

I hate it. 

I shiver slightly as Jack takes a cold washcloth and starts cleaning the blood away from my skin. I just wanna forget how this whole thing started. 

**"I don't make promises but believe me when I say that something like that won't happen again."** How could he prevent something like that? That's impossible. 

Wait.  _ He  _ found me. How?

**"Wait a second… You found me and I know that I didn't call you. So how the hell did you find me?"** He’s got that dumb look on his face again, guilt. What the hell did he do?

**“I may or may not have been tracking your movements and found a nearby camera to see where you were…”** I narrow my eyes lightly, not that he can really see from behind me. He’s been stalking me? For how long? There better not be cameras in my room or I swear I’ll—

**“You’ve been stalking me?”** He shrugs lightly, letting one of his many layers of clothes fall to the floor. 

**“I wouldn’t call it stalking just… Friendly spying.”** I roll my eyes before wiping my eyes, only now realizing that I’ve been crying. Shit, how many people saw me like that? **“Okay, I think I’ve gotten all of the blood.”**

Right. I can't stay here forever. I need to get out and lay down for a while.

I take a deep breath and signal for Jack to leave the room so I can get dressed appropriately and finally lay down. To my luck, he leaves without question. Taking the chance, I slip out of the tub and drain it before slowly getting dressed into some comfortable fitting clothes. Nervously, my hands fidgeting with each other, I slip into my room and spot Handsome Jack laying on my bed, staring into nothingness. 

**"Hey. Are you okay? You're kinda staring off into space. "** He scoffs before sitting up, staring at me. With a subtle shake of his head, I make my way to the bed, climbing in next to him. 

**"I should be the one asking you that. If I had been there on time-"** I can only shake my head. He didn't know what was going to happen. Nobody could.

**"Shut up, you didn't know. Just… can you hold me? Just until I fall asleep?"** I don't hear a response back from him but he does slowly wrap his arms around me, pressing his chest into my back. I hear him take a deep breath before he lays a few lazy kisses onto my neck. 

He makes me feel safe, most of the time.


End file.
